


Happy Birthday Alejandro!

by teen_content_queen



Category: SKAM (Spain)
Genre: AU, Alejandro is so in love, F/M, Fluff, Future, Nora is an A+ girlfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teen_content_queen/pseuds/teen_content_queen
Summary: Nora showers Alejandro with lots of love on his birthday.
Relationships: Alejandro Beltrán de Miguel/Nora Grace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	Happy Birthday Alejandro!

**Author's Note:**

> We were robbed of cute Nora and Alejandro birthday content, so here's so fluff to soothe the pain. 
> 
> Imagine this is 2022, and Nora and Alejandro are now both at university together and have been dating since spring 2020.

Alejandro shifted, eyes still too heavy with sleep to pry open. He hadn’t heard his alarm yet, which meant he still had time. He reached over, feeling around for his girlfriend’s small frame. What he found instead was an empty bed. He wanted to groan but a whine came out instead. 

That’s when he felt it, the small dip in the end of the bed. He opened his eyes now, suddenly more alert. 

There she was, perched like an angel looking back at him in one of his white t-shirts. She must have been up for a while because her eyes were bright and alert. Nora smiled at him, sending a warmth down through his chest all the way to his toes. Seeing him awake, she began to strum at the guitar he now noticed in her lap. 

She sang him “Happy Birthday”, voice soft and serene in the golden light of the early morning. He watched her, mouth spread so wide from his smile that his cheeks hurt a little. He continued to smile anyway. 

When she finished, she gently set the guitar into its case on the floor before crawling back up the bed to settle on top of him, knees on either side of his hips, pinning him in place beneath the covers. 

“Happy birthday.” She whispered, leaning down to kiss him. 

It was a lazy kiss, and she tasted like his toothpaste. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder blades, pulling her down so she was pressed against his chest, the covers a thin barrier between them. 

They’d been like that for a few minutes when his alarm went off, the bell tower sound effect causing her to sit up, pulling away. Alejandro made his best pouting face. 

“You need to get up.” She said, a smile cracking through her serious tone. 

“Five more minutes.” He pleaded. “It’s my birthday.”

Nora rolled her eyes, but shifted anyway, rolling over to move off of him so that she could get under the covers too. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her head onto his chest as she twisted their legs together. He grimaced.  
“Your feet are freezing.” 

She laughed, moving her feet onto his legs again, teasing as she watched him squirm. He pretended to hate it, but they both knew that he didn’t mind. Not as long as it meant they were cuddled up together. 

“Do you still want to get drinks tonight?” She asked. 

He looked at her, mesmerized for a moment at how beautiful she was. He ran a hand through her hair, letting the vanilla from her shampoo wash over him. 

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you want.” 

“It’s your birthday.” 

“And it’ll be wonderful because I’m with you.”

“No more birthdays alone.” She whispered, drawing patterns across his chest with her finger. He leaned down, kissing her on the forehead.

“No more birthdays alone.” He responded. 

It was a promise, he knew. And an apology for two years ago, when their pride had gotten in the way and they hadn’t been together like they should have. He tried not to think about that time too much, but knew it was as much a vital part of their story as anything else. 

They were quiet for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. Nora kept drawing on his chest, evidently unaware that his heart was fluttering with every curly q of her touch. He stroked his fingers through her hair, careful not to cause knots she’d have to brush out. 

When his five extra minutes were up, Nora pulled herself out of the sheets and blankets and stood, stretching her hands above her head and letting out a yawn.

“Come on. Breakfast.” She said, pulling at his outstretched hand.

He followed her into the small kitchen of his single bedroom apartment. Nora had made it homey, adding small touches around the apartment, plants and picture frames and knick knacks that reminded him of her on the rare occasion that she actually stayed at her own place instead of his. 

On the counter was a fresh pot of coffee and some fruit cut up in a bowl. Beside the stove was a soupy, bland looking mixture. Nora turned on the stove and after a moment, satisfied that the pan was warm enough, dropped a ladle full of the mixture onto the pan.  _ Pancakes, _ Alejandro realized. He smiled, taking a fork to the bowl of fruit and taking a few bites of strawberry while he watched. 

Once there was a small tower of pancakes on a plate and no more batter, Nora moved to the kitchen table, where she’d set out fresh flowers in a vase. He sat down and she kissed him on the head before sitting next to him, foot naturally hooking around his ankle so that they were always connected even while she cut her pancake, spreading butter and syrup on the golden disks. He ate, savoring the meal.

“You make the best pancakes.” 

She leaned over, giving him a sweet and sticky kiss. 

“Gracias.”

They chatted quietly while they ate, and then Nora sent Alejandro to get ready for class.

“I’ll help you clean up.”

“Go, or you’ll be late for class.”

“It’s my birthday. Can’t I skip?”

“Absolutely not. You have an exam.” She reminded him.

“But I don’t want to take an exam on my birthday.” He made a face at her.

“Come on. You’ll have extra birthday luck.” She said, giving him a sweet smile. He took a step toward her. 

“You know what would also give me luck?” He asked, voice low. She raised an eyebrow, questioning.

“A kiss.” He said, watching her cheeks go red. She stood on tiptoes to reach his mouth, kissing him lightly before descending and pushing him towards his room.

“Go.” 

* * *

A few hours later, Alejandro walked out of his exam. He actually felt pretty confident about this one, the first exam he’d taken with Nora’s new study technique which involved her withholding kisses and cuddles until he got a certain amount of questions right, the number decreasing as he learned the material until Nora deemed him ready for the exam and abandoned the studying in favor of the kissing. He turned his phone back on, and it quickly began buzzing in his hand, a slew of notifications from the few hours he’d shut it off. 

He scanned through them, eyes landing on the group chat, all of their friends from high school still as talkative as ever. They were all wishing him a happy birthday and wishing that they could be there to celebrate with him. It made his heart flutter, after having felt alone for so long. He opened the chat, and thanked each of them for their kind words and well wishes. 

In a separate thread, he saw Jorge had sent him a playlist titled “Ale’s Birthday Mix”. He scanned through it, appreciating the inclusion of so many of his favorite bands alongside what he imagined was every party song about birthdays in existence. He shot back thanks to his friend, who responded with a kissy-face emoji and thumbs up. 

Back on the screen of notifications, he saw one from Youtube, telling him Nora Grace had uploaded a new video. He fished around in his backpack, pulling out his headphones and quickly sliding them into place. 

He clicked the notification and after a moment, his girlfriend was smiling up at him from the screen. She was wearing his black sweatshirt, the one with the grey star on it, that she’d stolen three Christmases ago. 

Smiling at the camera, Alejandro felt like she was smiling right at him. He clicked play, settling onto a bench to watch. Familiar opening chords started and again, Alejandro felt his heart flutter as Nora sang “Come Out And Play” by Billie Eilish. She knew it was his favorite. It was the first song Alejandro had ever heard Nora sing, and listening to her back then, he had felt the beginnings of what he knew now was love. 

She finished singing, the chords quietly reaching their end. She looked at the camera and said softly “Te amo.”

* * *

Nora held his hand firm as she pulled him along the stony sidewalk to the bar on the edge of campus where they liked to go. Alejandro had wavered a little in his resolve, and even now was debating if he really wanted to go out for a celebratory drink or if he’d rather just be at home with Nora, watching a movie and cuddling on the couch. She’d convinced him though. One drink and then they could go home. He was going to hold her to that promise. 

As they walked inside, Alejandro was hit by a wall of sound as familiar faces popped up from the tables scattered around the bar. Nora squeezed his hand and then pushed him forward, into the waiting embrace of Jorge and Cris, the two long over their drama. They pulled him into a hug and beyond them, Alejandro spotted Cris and Joana, Amira, Viri and Hugo, Lucas and Danny waiting, a pitcher of beer on the table for them. 

As Jorge and Cris released him, Eva moved in next, arms wrapping around Alejandro and giving him a squeeze. He’d missed her hugs, and her quick and easy banter as she teased him for being  _ so old.  _ She moved off, taking Jorge’s hand in hers and wrapping her other arm around Nora, who watched Alejandro be greeted by all of their friends, who’d come by plane, train, and automobile to be here to celebrate with him. Some of them went to school here too, but Alejandro knew that others, like Cris and Joana, had travelled much further to be there. He wiped at his eye, trying not to cry and bring down the festive mood. 

“Happy birthday Alejandro!” Amira cheered.

“Let’s party!” Cris added, looking at Joana, who rolled her eyes with a laugh. 

With that, tears were forgotten as Alejandro got swept up into the celebrations. Drinks were passed around as Lucas and Eva each documented it all on their phones, snapping photos wildly and taking videos they would hold onto for embarrassment later. 

The hours passed quickly as they all talked, everyone happy to be together even though they’d just spent the majority of their Christmas break together only six weeks before. Slowly but surely though, they peeled off, one by one or sometimes in pairs, heading home to sleep. It was a Wednesday after all, and Alejandro understood that some people still had class tomorrow, or early transit to catch. He hugged everyone as they left, holding them close and hoping they all understood what this meant to him. 

Finally, it was just Nora and Alejandro, chairs pulled together and empty glasses in front of them, the hum of the bar quiet now that their dominating party had cleared. She took his hand, watching him. 

“Surprise.” She said with a laugh. He smiled at her.

“Thank you.” 

She smiled back at him, her gorgeous toothy grin. 

“No more birthdays alone, remember.” She said, tone much lighter than this morning. He closed the distance between them, kissing her with gratitude. 

“This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” He said, foreheads still touching, talking softly. 

“You deserve it.” She whispered, bringing her hands to either side of his face and stroking his cheeks with her thumbs. They sat like that for a long beat before Nora said, “let’s go home.”

She stood, taking his hand, and walking out into the night. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and they walked in silence for a while, taking in the serenity of the peaceful night. 

When they got back to Alejandro’s, Nora disappeared into his room, reemerging a few minutes later in her pajamas, hair adorably piled onto her head in a bun. She had her hands behind her back.

“I have something for you.”

Alejandro took a step toward her.

“You’ve already given me so many things today, Nora.”

“Fine, I’ll take it back,” She said, eyebrows raised in fake seriousness. He smiled but played along.

“No, no. I want it.” He said. She took a step toward him, pretending to consider. 

“I guess I can give it to you then.” She said, pulling the wrapped gift from behind her back. 

Alejandro sat on the couch, carefully peeling back the ribbon and paper while Nora sat across from him on the ottoman, watching. As he finally opened the box, he was confused at first. It was a box of Cola Cao. Then his cheeks grew hot, remembering. It was after their cafe date to drink Cola Cao that he’d finally worked up the nerve to kiss her. He smiled at the memory. 

Next to the canister was a second gift, wrapped in the same paper as the package he’d just opened. He took it out and carefully undid it. It was slim, and felt almost like a book. When he peeled back the paper, he realized it was a book, at least sort of. It was a photo book, all of their photos together digitized and carefully arranged on the pages. 

“I’ve been working on it for a while.” Nora said shyly.

Alejandro flipped through a few pages before he found it. A scanned copy of a love letter Nora had written him. She’d tucked it into his things when he left for school the year before, and he’d only found it when he finished unpacking, a reminder of the girl waiting for him at home. 

As the pictures got newer, so did the letters, all gathered and scanned from their year apart from each other, when Nora was finishing school and Alejandro had moved onto university. Every letter back then had felt like solid ground when everything else was rocky. He had tangible proof of her love, something to hold onto when they weren’t able to see each other for weeks at a time. 

Once Nora had arrived on campus, the letters had decreased in their frequency, replaced by Post-It notes that they’d leave each other, tucked into folders and put on cupboards or blank walls when they’d leave in the morning. As Alejandro flipped through the book, he saw that those too had been catalogued and preserved in the book. At the end, he found pictures of them from the most recent Christmas, arms wrapped around each other. And the last page was a letter he didn’t recognize and he realized it was new. 

Nora took the book from his hands, and read aloud.

“Happy birthday my love. How lucky we all are that you were born on this day, and that we get to live in a world with you in it. I know I’m the luckiest girl to be loved by you. Not only because you can get things off of high shelves for me, or because your clothes are soft and comfortable and I get to steal them, but because you have a big heart, and you teach me every day how to be a little bit better. Thank you for everything you’ve given me in all of our years together. I’m looking forward to the next seventy birthdays with you. Love, Nora.”

She shut the book now and looked at him, eyes so bright and beautiful. He couldn’t help but lunge for her, so wrapped up in his love for her, and pull her towards him on the couch, ignoring her shriek of surprise and smothering her with kisses as she laughed. Once they’d settled down, he met her gaze, grin making his eyes squint a little as he did.

“I love you.” He said. 

“I love you too.” She whispered back, kissing him. “Happy birthday.”


End file.
